Ruta Graveolens

Ruta graveolens commonly known as rue, common rue or herb of grace is a species of Ruta grown as a herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is now grown throughout the world as an ornamental plant in gardens, especially because of its bluish leaves, and also sometimes for its tolerance of hot and dry soil conditions. It also is cultivated as a medicinal herb, as a condiment, and to a lesser extent as an insect repellent.

Used plant part
Fresh leaves; if not available, dried leaves are a poor substitute. The fruits of rue are rarely used in the kitchen.

Plant family
Rutaceae (citrus family). 

Origin
The origin of rue probably lies in the Medi­terra­nean or Western Asia.

Etymology
Most Western European languages have similar names for rue: English and French rue, Dutch ruit and German Raute all go back to Latin ruta, which itself was borrowed from Greek rhyte [ῥυτή]. The ultimate origin of the word is not known.

Quite interestingly, several names of rue have chance homo­nyms: English rue may also mean remorse, French rue almost always means street and German Raute is the mathematical term for rhomb, equilateral parallelogram. Moreover, the German noun Rute whip is also unrelated.